Transfer from a 4 year Liberal Arts College to a Community College

Transfer Students
1

Currently at a small liberal arts college in PA(Gettysburg College). It’s a good school, but I haven’t been able to adjust here. It has been only a few months, but those few months have been absolute hell. I always feel depressed, stressed, or anxious. I’ve tried to join clubs and get active in the community but nothing seems to work. I bombed nearly all my midterms(lowest was a 56, highest was a 65) and now I’m even more stressed. I feel like I would be much better off if I was closer to home, as I am from CA. I plan on doing another semester here simply because I might as well, but I know it’s going to be another semester of misery. I want to go to UCSC, but I’m not sure about the transfer requirements, and my GPA will likely be at highest a 3.0. Should I transfer to a community college in CA and try to build up the requirements and grades needed, and if so can I transfer in by spring. If not what should I do?

2
  1. Are you in therapy for your depression and anxiety? On campus counseling is free and confidential. PLEASE GO.

When mental health issues are weighing a person down, it is hard for the other pieces to work at their optimum level.

  1. Office hours are a great resource. There is quite probably also free tutoring available in those subjects where you bombed midterms. GO! Take advantage of all your resources!

  2. Take a class with Steve Gimbel if you stay at Gettysburg College! He is in the philosophy department and is SUPER FUNNY, a great professor, and a great human being! (My daughter went to school with his son.)

  3. I imagine you can transfer home to a community college unless they are entirely oversubscribed. You might not get your first pick of classes, but you can probably go. I would try to see if you can salvage the situation at Gettysburg first, though.

  4. Making friends can take time. Do you have an activity or two or three that you enjoy? Is there a club for it? If not, could you start one?

Best wishes! I will be sending you good vibes for better weeks to come!

3

Thank you so much for the advice! I need to prioritize my mental health, and I don’t know if I should attend another semester. My greatest concern now is what’s next? If I leave I don’t have a set game plan, as mine was to graduate with my bachelors and go to law school. If I leave now and attend a community college, is that still possible?

4

You need to prioritize your mental health AND do one of the following two things:

  1. Pull your grades up for this semester,
  2. Look in to a medical withdrawal from this semester (if your symptoms are bad enough that you really cannot continue to function). You would probably need to talk to a dean and to counseling services about this.

Don’t put yourself in a deep GPA hole from which you will have to claw your way out. Try to finish as strong as you can.

Worry about what you are going to do with the rest of your life LATER. If you are really in a bad way about this semester, focus on this semester.

But yes, if makes you feel better, people do go to law school even if they started at community college.

Good luck.

5

Thank you so much! You have been nothing but helpful!

6

I usually suggest people stick it out but in your case since you are not doing well academically it might be best to jump ship. Community College is something you can do immediately. CC is a great way to earn core credits at a great price.

7

Assuming that you are a new frosh in college, note that UCs only take junior level transfers (60+ semester credit units at the time of transfer), so whether or not you transfer to a community college now, you would apply next academic year when you will be completing 60+ semester credit units to transfer to a UC in fall 2021.

California community colleges should have good advising for students who want to transfer to UCs and CSUs, since that is a very common goal for California community college students.

https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/infocenter/transfers-major can give you an idea of what kind of GPA is needed to transfer to various UC campuses and majors.

8

The UC 60 credits includes AP credits into the calculation, so you may be able to transfer sooner if you have accumulated a lot of them.